An original 7 inch reel to reel tape featuring a recording of Brian Epstein being interviewed by Murray The K for WOR-FM radio in the United States. The interview took place in March 1967. Brian had travelled to New York to announce the merger of NEMS with The Robert Stigwood Organisation and to promote Stigwood acts The Bee Gees, The Who and Cream.
Brian begins the interview in a slow, sluggish manner but soon gets into his stride and begins to wax eloquently on a whole range of issues. During the interview Brian talks about a whole variety of subjects including rumours of a Beatles split, the Sgt Peppers album, the group’s stage performances, the 1966 ‘Bigger than Jesus’ comments by John Lennon and UK pirate radio stations etc. He also discusses other artists including Jimi Hendrix, The Monkees, Paul Simon and The Four Tops. Epstein's business associate Nat Weiss later recalled of this interview: "Before he was to give a radio interview with Murray the K, I came into the room (in the Waldorf Towers) to find Brian slurring his language. Obviously he had taken several Nembutals. He had this interview coming up and there were people in the waiting room waiting to see him, and he was like this. I found the bottle. I had to wrestle with him on the floor, throw the bottle out of the window of the hotel and just yell at him. Eventually, with coffee and things like that, we got him together and we took him to the interview". The interview runs for 1 hour and 2 minutes.
Mark Lewishon: ‘The Beatles had many wild and eventful years – every year, in fact – but 1967 was full even by their hectic standards. The album Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band … the films Yellow Submarine and Magical Mystery Tour … the formation of Apple … meditating with the Maharishi … and the loss of their manager, mentor and friend Brian Epstein, who died (aged all of 32) that August. Five months earlier, in March 1967, Epstein was in New York with two other acts his company represented – Cream and the Who – and during this trip he sat down at length with the radio presenter Murray Kaufman, better known as Murray The K.
Three years before this, Kaufman was an AM radio jockey whose revved style and overbearing manner saw him grab the tag Fifth Beatle. By 1967 he was adapting to the just-established FM format where, man, everything was slower, thoughtful, circumspect – and these traits characterise this Epstein interview, which is really just a conversation spoken at leisure speed. The new style suited Brian Epstein, at all times an intelligent, thoughtful and articulate speaker. He starts drowsy, perhaps under the influence of narcotics, but he warms up as the tape progresses and his head clears. In all states, he was never less than honest and revealing, here speaking at length of the Beatles’ past, present (they were still making Sgt Pepper) and future.
This is the original spool of tape taken away by Brian Epstein at the end of the interview, carried back home to England and retained by his family ever since. It is the last significant recorded voice of the man who guided the Beatles, the biggest musical force of the 20th century – truly a historic and important artefact.’
The tape is from the estate of Brian Epstein and is accompanied by a corresponding letter of authenticity. The recording is housed in a Scotch recording tape box which has a Wor-Wor TV label stuck on to the upper right corner which has the words ‘Murray The K Brian Epstein Interview’ written in blue pen and the description ‘2 Track Stereo’ written in orange pencil. There is a sticker on the tape reel on which the words ‘Murray The K, Brian Epstein Interview’ and ‘2 Track Stereo’ have been written. The box measures 18cm x 18cm x 1.5cm (7.25 inches x 7.25 inches x 0.5 inches). The audio quality is 6/10. The condition of the box is very good. The condition of the tape is very good plus.
Authentication: Gotta Have Rock and Roll Certificate of Authenticity
